Last weekend in Qingdao

It is my last Sunday in Qingdao.  Most of the group is in Beijing.  I am going to Beijing next weekend to meetup with my IBM team in the Beijing office so I decided to stay in Qingdao. Ivonne, Payel and Kempton are also here so we have been hanging out. Friday we stayed in and Ivonne made us Arepas from Columbia,  Payel has some Curried Chicken and we also were able to find some Cheese, Fruit and Wine from a local specialty market. Cheese isn't big in Chinese cuisine so we were happy to find it. Wine is also fairly expensive so we really have been mostly drinking beer here.

Yesterday we braved the heat and VERY high humidity and went to the Qingdao

botanical gardens. It was very lovely and nice to see all the green and trees.

We have also been very busy writing up our deliverables for the project including planning our presentations and workshops.  This next final week will be busy presenting the workshops and the final presentations. We are in the home stretch. So hard to believe it is fourth week already.

Today we are going to try and find some Italian food and do a little shopping.

Week 3 already

So here I am sitting in my hotel.  It is 6:30 AM and I should be outside walking/jogging but it is raining so I thought I would do a quick blog entry.

To catch up on the weekend we did a little Qingdao sightseeing on Sunday.  We went to an area of town call Badaguan -  It translates to 8 passes and is a series of 8 streets with many European influenced buildings which were built during the German Occupation the beginning of the last century.  The day was HOT and HUMID so we were grateful for the many beautiful trees in the area. Originally we had planned to walk down to another famous Qingdao landmark called the Zhan Pier but because of the heat we tried another adventure -  the bus.  Since we can't really read anything and we can't speak much of the language our approach is to load up the location on google maps and show it to the bus driver -  if he nods we get on.  Then we follow the blue dot on the map app to make sure we know where to get off.  Perfect worked great and the best part was that it cost 1 yuan. Maybe 15 cents US.  Uber will also work but you have to put the address in in Chinese which is problematic for us.  Plus two of the team have had their Uber accounts hacked so I prefer not to use it.

The Pier was crowded but a ton of fun.  So here is something random.  We get stopped alot to get our picture taken with random people.  So we are doing a bunch of selfies with people we do not know.  On this day we were approached by a group of students who saw us and all the cameras came out.  We do a lot of smiling.  On the pier we tried to take a group picture and as Bharat was taking the picture, about 8 other people also got their camera out.

This week at work has been busy.  Week 1 we did interviews and got the overall understanding of the business.  Week 2 we used some Design Thinking Principe and created an Empathy Map, we outlines the objectives or the to be scenarios. We did both a market and financial analysis to make sure our objectives were feasible. We also created a SWOT analysis to identify what we really need to focus on to create the biggest impact.  This week we did a Fishbone analysis of the problem areas and this allowed us to use  another Design thinking artifact called Ideation  It was the first time for me to do many of these things and I am so grateful for the opportunity to do this.  I am truly learning so much.  We are now able to make our recommendations and begin creating our final presentation.  Next week will be mostly workshops and presentations!!!

Another fun thing we did this week was participate in Emergency training hosted by the of the Clients Angels Emergency Assistance Center.  They taught us how to escape a smoke filled building, how to use a fire extinguisher, how to tie knots that you night need to escape a fire and also CPR.  As my teammate Maria said "It was brilliant".   I thought they did a great job and this is something that isn't really done here in Qingdao and is really needed.

Week 2 Wrapup

Well we wrapped up Week 2.   Yeah!!!  We ave now all our objectives defined, The Market and Financial Analysis complete as well as our Empathy Map.  So we are feeling pretty good about our Progress.

Friday night a bunch of us went and met up for a nice dinner at a huge mall not far from where we are staying.  There is a restaurant there that makes homemade noodles and these very delicious port sandwiches.

This weekend we had a Service project that we all attended that was sponsored by our Client Link Startup Community. Our master of ceremonies was Jose from Dubai and he did a wonderful job!! There was quite the turnout for the service project and Matthias led an activity called the "Marshmallow Game"  which was so much fun.  Then Raphael and Erik led a "Design Thinking Workshop" which also was not only a learning experience but our participants were truly enjoying themselves.  So many people came to us and wanted to know when we would do the next workshop.  It was definitely well received.  I know our Client Kevin was very happy with how it turned out.

Afterwards we all went out as a team and celebrated teammate Erik's birthday. He had  Happy Birthday sung in multiple languages pretty much all day.  Pretty glad my birthday is in April.  I feel so privileged and fortunate to be on a team with so many wonderful people.  We have all become very close as if we have known each other forever.   Meeting all of them will definitely be one of the cherished things I will take from this experience.

I have so many pictures but it takes a very long time over VPN to get them downloaded for the blog so look for a huge entry once I am back stateside.

Time is flying

So Today is Thursday -  actually Thursday evening for us so it has been two weeks since I kissed John goodbye at the airport.  I would be lying if I said I didn't miss him horribly, because I do.  But we are so busy with the project commitments and fun side trips that time is flying by.

My daily work routine is like this.  I usually get up around 5:40 unless I can't sleep then it is earlier.  I catch up on the computer do some blogging and then head out for a morning walk.  There is no traffic in the morning which is nice so you don't have to worry about taking your life in your hands while crossing the street.  The activity in the park and on the harbor is very entertaining in the morning.

You have the park cleaners with their bamboo brooms.  You have various groups of people doing all sorts of exercise.  You have the shop keeps setting up for the day.  You have people singing in the music square or just dancing there.   Lots of walkers and joggers. People walking dogs.  People stretching or hitting themselves repeatedly -  not too sure about why. Some people are just plain sleeping.  All at around 6:00AM.  Today the tide was very high so the shop keepers had to actually relocate all their goods to higher grounds so they were busy moving it all back.

Next I head home shower and get ready for the day.  Breakfast is provided by the hotel and the good news is that there is a good variety and COFFEE!!!  Then we all break into our various teams and head to the office.  Our client Phoebe usually meets us at the hotel and hails an Uber for us -  we appreciate her doing this as it isn't easy to enter the Chinese characters on our Uber apps for us.
Qingdao is what they define a tier 2 city so only about 6 million live here but there are not many westerners so we as a collective team attract quite a bit of attention.  One time our Uber driver tried to sneak a picture of us but we busted him so we very willingly posed for him.  (This is pretty common - people ask to take their picture with us all the time)  Another driver was so nervous about having us in his car we were a little worried he would actually get us there.

We usually get to the office around 9 and are working thru all the steps to come up with a valid and sustainable development plan for our client.  This includes many interviews, visits to the locations, applying design thinking and agile practices.  Doing competitive analysis, defining SMART objectives, coming up with the Finance analysis etc. So we are busy.   We sometimes go our for lunch sometimes we order in.  But the day flied by before we know it.  Today we did a field trip to a couple of the competitors and were able to collect a bunch of info from them which was pretty surprising for us.

Then we get an Uber back to the hotel where we grab a bite to ear,  some of us take walks, some swim.   Yesterday I went and got a Chinese Massage.  The modesty level was a little less than I am used to but the massage was great.  They also did the Cup therapy which was also quite different and now I have a bunch of big round hickeys on my back.  I am hoping these go away quickly.

Then back to the hotel where I crash and start all over again.  Now the weekends are a little different.
More on that later.

Toto we are Not in Kansas Anymore

I love visiting foreign counties and cultures.  If things were not different that they are at home there wouldn't be much point in traveling.  I especially like learning about new food.  Now having said all that let me assure you China does not disappoint.

When I first arrived in Shanghai there were water dispensers in the airport to fill up your water bottles.  However, when I went to use one all it had was HOT water.  I thought this was odd so I went to the next one to see if it had cold water.  Nope.  Then at restaurants they pour you water but it is HOT water..That is is just what they do.  Our client Phoebe told us that you cannot drink the tap water at all so all water must be boiled and also drinking the hot water is the custom as it aids digestion.

Crossing the road.  They have many cross walks but really you take your life in your hands.  The cars do not stop.  They do not even try to stop.  You have to learn to put our your secret power stop hand and force them too.  Fortunately the traffic is usually moving slow than you are you you can effectively weave your way thru traffic.  We did run into an accident on the way home on Saturday.  Actually it was blocking the road.  Not really sure how this happened.

We are lucky enough to have a washer/dryer in the road.  This is actually great.  One machine and it does both.  You just have to figure out how to use it.  With a little help from teammate Maria I did and it worked perfectly!!

To borrow a phrase from our teammate Kempton all of our teams are the start of a good joke. "What happens when an Brazilian, a Costa Rican, and Australian and an American go into a bar.....well it does freak out the wait staff I can tell you that.  We tried to order a pitcher of beer and it took 5 waiters to figure out what we wanted.  We got 4 bottles of beer so we were happy.

It is like everything is written in Chinese here  ....Oh Wait!   Seriously, these are the safety instructions in the hotel which is a very nice hotel that caters to business people.  Are you able to catch all that.  I assume these are the safety instructions because it says police at the bottom and there is a picture of the safe.   I actually tried very hard to learn some of the language but right now as far as learning the actual characters but I am only at about 6.  It takes about 3000 to read a newspaper.  So I can't tell if a building is a bank, a laundry, a grocery store or a restaurant. We are fortunate that Karen our Pyxera guide armed us with list of places to go.


I have tried a bunch of new food.  Honestly I am not sure what some of it is and I probably do not want to know. Some I like and some not so much.   Dragon fruit was new for me and I did like it.





We did go to the famous TsingDao Beer museum yesterday and this was fun.  We toured the history and actually got to see the packaging line. After the tour we got some beer served in a bag.  This is something you only see in Qingdao.

This next section is for the ladies. Squat Toilets  I have been pretty much all over the planet and I have seen these before but I have always been able to find alternatives.  Not so much here.  As they say it is a learning experience.  This one is at our office.  It is very clean and at least it is not shared by the men.  You still have to come armed with your own paper though.  I have to admit I was not even sure how to approach it at first,  Which way do you stand etc.  Now one week in we still look for western alternatives but we can handle if we have too.

Anyway - today we are off to Laoshan a park in a natural area with a famous Taoist temple.  So off to breakfast!!!

Week 1 - New things!!!

Ok I am learning and experiencing so much is such a short time.

1.  Collaborating with my teammates I am being introduced to tools that I am not sure how I lived without before -  One Note is an example.  I will never use word again for tracking info on projects.

2.  We have been applying the IBM Design Thinking method to our work and using Mural to capture all of our Identity Maps and Hills.  We have two very talented Project Assistants working with us that translate into Chinese as we add things to Mural.  We have 5 people all using the same Mural and it is fun seeing everyone work at the same time on the same workspace.  I have used Mural before but not like this!!!

3.  Trying lots of new food.   Last night Our team went out and had Peking Duck which I ave never had before.  It was fabulous.  The Crispy skin was delicious and the duck was so tender.  They give you pancakes and you make little tacos with the duck, some green onions and a hoisin like sauce.    We also got to try duck's feet.  This is not something you find on an American menu.  It was not my favorite.  As you can imagine it was a little chewy.  They did have a spicy mustard dipping sauce which was very good.

                                          Duck Feet                                      Peking Duck

We had such a good time with the Link team.  So much delicious food.  We are just stuffed and happy  at the end.

Kickoff

The Kickoff

Monday was the first official day of working with our Clients.  We all got dressed up and drove to the Qingdao Volunteer Service College which is one of the 4 Clients we are representing.  The atmosphere in the auditorium was electric.  The 4 organizations were selected from many applicants and all 4 really need te services our teams will be providing.

There were speakers from the Government, IBM, our NGO Partner Plyxera as well as each of the 4 organizations.

The group picture of all of the whole team and our clients.

This is the team I am honored to be working with is Qingdao Link Startup Community.   It is run by a very energetic gentleman named Kevin.  The organization provided a nurturing environment for young entrepreneurs by providing shared spaced as well as services to help make them successful.  The business is very young and there is a great need in Qingdao.  Kevin just started the business a year ago and has done an incredible job getting to this point.  He is asking for our assistance to create a development plan to take him to the next level.  We are bring tools such as Design thinking and Agile to help us accomplish this.

Our neighborhood

We are very fortunate to be staying a a fabulous hotel right in the heart of the city center.  It is walking distance to the harbor and boardwalk.  The area is quite safe and very vibrant.  Here are a few pictures of the May 4th Square I took on a morning walk before we got started for the day. The sun is up at about 4:30 and so am I.

Ok this is all for now.  More in a few days!!

Day 1 Qingdao - arrival

Hello from Qingdao!!!

After a very long couple of days I got to the hotel this morning just after midnight.  The sun comes up at 4:30 am.  So now I am wide awake and decided this was a good time to see if I can get connected.

The wifi is a little sketchy so I am trying connection the old fashioned way with the cable.  Below is a picture from my room.  Not too shabby.  We are very fortunate to be staying in a very nice business hotel.  We lucked out as I gather many of the CSC teams are not quite so lucky.  We even have a small kitchen with washing  machine.


 I met one teammate last night Kempton as we were on the same connecting flight from Shanghai Qingdao.  He is from Australia but originally from Austin.  I was able to recognize him by the Texas Longhorn cap he was wearing.The agenda today is to meet the team and explore our new neighborhood. More from me later.....

#ibmcsc   #china33csc

PS just noticed that the tall building at the top of the blog is where we are staying.